Sounds of 2012: Nos. 61 to 56

Friendship is Magic is over and done with (at least as far as the TV show is concerned) but there's a lot more for me to write here yet! And one of the things I need to get on with is "Sounds of 2012". As usual, here's a quick refresher on the rules I use to determine inclusion here. I think I'll put them in a smaller font from now on, so that they don't sprawl over so much space. Besides, Rule 1 covers everything this time around.

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

61: Sim Gretina – Twilightlicious ('Troll it down' remix)
60: Stablefree – Discord (Big Band Jazz Cover ft. Replacer)
59: RainbowCrash88 – Rainbow Dash Stage Theme
58: Aviators and Omnipony – Monster
57: Sim Gretina – Twilight ft. Dusk Shine – Magic
56: Echelon – Sleep

If you'd like to know a bit more about these six tracks, then please keep reading!

61: Sim Gretina – Twilightlicious ('Troll it down' remix)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 4 Apr 2012
Yet another Sim Gretina remix, but this one isn't even of a song! Back in 2012, Tara Strong delighted in trolling us bronies, and one of the ways she did that was the "Twilightlicious" rhyme, later semi-unofficially-ish animated by BlackGryph0n. (Oh, read the description under his video; it's too long for me to explain here.). The whole "-licious" thing was a major fandom meme for a while, with multiple ponies getting in on the act, and more "Is it that VA? Maybe, maybe not, wink wink" teasing than you could shake a stick at. Sim Gretina does his best to turn Tara Strong's lines into a fun remix, and it's probably better than nearly anyone else could have done – but even so, the source material is just too short to make this a particularly interesting track. It's really as much a meme as the original. No HQ version, but you'd probably guessed that.

60: Stablefree – Discord (Big Band Jazz Cover ft. Replacer)

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 2 Jul 2012
Stablefree left the world of MLP music behind way back in 2014, but they did produce a few interesting tracks before then. This one was far and away their most popular release, which I suppose is unsurprising given the massive popularity of the song that spawned it. To my mind, there's not nearly enough of this kind of music in Pony, and happily this is a pretty decent effort. It does sound a little too electronic in parts, and it maybe goes on a bit too long – yes, even jazz can do that! – but it's still a nice interpretation of the fandom's biggest hit. Having Replacer involved in a track can't hurt it any, either. There's a 320k MP3 linked in the description, as well as sheet music PDFs – and the links to those still work!

59: RainbowCrash88 – Rainbow Dash Stage Theme

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 15 Jul 2012
Those of you who followed "Sounds of 2011" may recall that several themes for the semi-ill-fated Fighting is Magic game featured in that year's Top 100. Well, the artist more recently known as RC88 is here again, with Rainbow's stage theme. It's what you'd expect, really: a rocky, power-guitar song that features some snatches of Dash's section from "At the Gala". (When this was made, she hadn't sung much in the series, beyond that and the "Find a Pet" song.) Should you want this in high quality, head to RC88's Bandcamp and hand over $1.

58: Aviators and Omnipony – Monster

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 26 Mar 2012
A collaboration here between two of 2012's biggest names. Aviators wrote and sang this, while Omnipony (now OMNI) handled production and wubbery. The song is about Discord, and was inspired by a comic in which Celestia's rejection of his love led to his becoming the monster that he is. (Well, that he was in March 2012!) The contrast between Aviators' usual smooth vocals and the inevitable dubstep parts isn't something I like all that much, but in 2012 dubstep was everything to large swathes of the fandom. Oh well. Want this in HQ? The link in the video description is dead, but it is still available for a mere 50 cents on OMNI's Bandcamp.

57: Sim Gretina – Twilight ft. Dusk Shine – Magic

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 24 Jun 2012
You know, I'm getting the impression that Sim Gretina was quite popular in 2012. :P Here we have a very catchy and pretty effective mashup of a number of Twilight's canon songs, from "B.B.B.B.F" to "Winter Wrap Up". It all flows very smoothly, without ever dropping the pace. As for Dusk Shine? That's the most common name given to Rule 63'd Twilight. Sim Gretina says it's here because "Love is in Bloom" is pitched so low as to make the singer sound like a stallion. The only link in the video description is a dead one to a SoundCloud track, I'm afraid.

56: Echelon – Sleep

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 4 Jun 2012
Oh look, another dubstep song, this time from the long-gone Echelon. Okay, since it was featured on the Balloon Party album I suppose it was unlikely to be a gentle classical number. Though the samples are Fluttershy-based, mostly from "Hush Now, Quiet Now", which does leaven the inevitable wubs a bit. The Mediafire download is gone, apparently for a TOS violation – unusual for a fandom song. However, you can get this track in HQ as part of the 100% No Feeble Cheering album, available on a name-your-price basis on Balloon Party's Bandcamp.